Making The Find
Dr. Ricardo Martinez was working in Moon Valley in Argentina when he discovered a skull unlike any others in the world. The area is known for its Triassic fossils, and these remains soon had many people thinking of the ‘Ice Age’ movies thanks to its unusual looks.
Spookily Similar
No one ever considered that a sabertooth squirrel could be real – until now. The skull has an extended nose as well as sharp teeth found right at the front of its jaw. It wasn’t long before many researchers believed it looked just like Scrat, even though the films were released years before the discovery.
Plenty Of History
There is a lot of history to the new discovery. The skull is 2.8 inches long, meaning it’s likely the creature was around 10 inches in length. Plus, it probably lived approximately 231 million years ago. However, it wasn’t a mammal, but actually a creature closely related to mammals all those years ago.
Lots To Learn
There is still plenty to learn about the new discovery. After all, researchers have no idea why it needed such fearsome teeth. It lived before the first flowering plants, so it’s likely the animal lived of smaller animals or insects. However, it could have also used its teeth to fight off any competition.
While there is still plenty to uncover about the animal, the researchers are so amazed at how similar it looks to the ‘Ice Age’ character that they have considered naming it Scrat. For now, they need to search for more specimens before they have any definitive answers.